Hola!

I am regretfully writing this much later than anticipated. Due to a series of unanticipated events called “life”, I was unable to keep up with my photo blogging as much as I had wanted.

Nevertheless! I am ready to finish my story. I ended my study abroad experience with absolutely no regrets. I saw amazing things, made incredible friends, and fell in love with a city that once seemed so far away, and is now so close to my heart. My last week of schooling was slightly less exciting as before, because I was busy with studying and writing my final paper. I went out to dinner a few times with friends, and spent a relaxing day on the beach by myself! The day of my finals was a whirlwind of anticipation, excitement, joy, and curiosity. I say curiosity because leading up to this day, I received some interesting red flags. My boyfriend, whom I had been texting quite regularly, informed me that he was going on a camping trip with friends and wouldn’t have service for a few days. But what was odd, was that he stopped texting me right around the time that my parents were supposed to get on the plane to come visit me in Spain….as it turns out, it was no coincidence. My boyfriend surprised me that afternoon, and flew over 5,000 miles with my parents to join us on our extended European vacation!!!! As I walked into the hotel lobby and saw him standing there, I couldn’t believe my eyes!!! I felt like a little kid, glancing over at my parents for reassurance that this was real life! They already had phones and cameras pointing at me to catch my reaction, and even though there were several other people in the room, I didn’t care. I also was able to see my former foreign exchange student from Denmark! My 5th week in Barcelona was about to prove how spontaneous and lovely life can be.

I instantly realized what an awesome experience it would be to show them around the city. None of them had ever been to Barcelona before, and it was even my boyfriends first time out of the country!!! I was honored with the duty of being their tour guide for the next five days, and put all that I had learned about the city in the past month to the test. I taught them how to use the metro, how to avoid the tourist traps on Las Ramblas, how to find amazing food, and how to see the city for its beauty, warmth, and comfort as I had. Because I had known about my parents coming, I purposely waited to do many of the tourist sight-seeing with them. We went to Barceloneta Beach, saw the statue of Columbus, went to Park Guell, saw many more of Gaudi’s buildings included the famous Sagrada Familia Cathedral, and we of course had our fair share of Paella! In fact, the reason I chose Barcelona to begin with, was because of my uncle. He backpacked through europe when he was not too much older than myself, and Spain was by far his favorite country. Barcelona in particular. So for their second night we went out for Paella (his favorite dish) on what would have been his 71st birthday.

Leaving Spain was much harder than I had thought. I had been there long enough to feel comfortable and to create a routine, so letting go was tough. I thought maybe having my parents there (and now my boyfriend) would make things easier, but there was no way they could understand the connection I felt. I promised myself then that no matter what, one day I would return.

Our two and a half week trip continued on. We visited Paris next, where the real turn of events took place. As we stood in the city’s largest building, overlooking the Eiffel tower as it glittered, my boyfriend took my hands and got on one knee….he proposed to me on our four and a half year anniversary in the city of love!!!! I was living a real life fairy tale, and all I could do was be thankful. My whole life changed from that day on, and with the support from our family and friends, we are very excited to start the next chapter of our lives. However, our excitement is pre-mature because we (along with the guidance of our parents) have decided to have a long engagement. We would both like to finish school and get stable jobs before taking such a big step.

After France we went to Munich, Germany, Austria, and then ended in Denmark with Mia (my foreign exchange student) and her family. We ended the trip with lots of laughs, good company, and a lifetime of memories to treasure forever. I will never forget the lessons I learned, or how I felt stepping off the plane when I had first arrived. I came, I saw, I conquered!

See you soon Barcelona <3

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